Animal rights groups pick up momentum

The growing influence of animal rights activists increasingly
is affecting daily life, touching everything from the foods
Americans eat to what they study in law school, where they buy
their puppies and even whether they should enjoy a horse-drawn
carriage ride in New York's Central Park.

Animal activist groups such as the Humane Society of the
United States and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
(PETA) say they are seeing a spike in membership as their
campaigns spread.

"There's been an explosion of interest" in animal welfare
issues, says David Favre, a Michigan State University law
professor and animal law specialist. "Groups like the Humane
Society of the United States and PETA have brought to our social
awareness their concerns about animals and all matter of
creatures."

"Animals are made of flesh and blood and bone just like
humans," says Bruce Friedrich, PETA's vice president for
campaigns. "They feel pain just like we do. Recognition of that
grows year by year. The animal rights movement is a social
justice movement (similar to) suffrage and civil rights."

Among other initiatives, PETA supports a measure introduced
last month by a New York City councilman that would ban carriage
horses that haul tourists around Manhattan. Many other cities
feature such businesses.

"I think it's clear that animal issues are part of the public
domain like never before," says Michael Markarian, executive
vice president of the Humane Society, the largest animal welfare
organization. "People have started thinking more and more about
how we treat animals in our society."

Food producers say the activists aren't just concerned about
animal welfare but are trying to win them the same rights as
human beings.

"Ultimately, their goal is to eliminate animals being used as
food," says Kay Johnson-Smith of the Animal Agriculture
Alliance, an industry-supported organization that seeks to
educate the public about agriculture. "There's a real danger
when we allow a very small minority of activists to dictate
procedures that should be used to raise animals for food."

[Editor's note:
1.) How can a "very small minority of activists" "dictate"
anything??
2.) The only real danger the meat and dairy industries face is
a. Loss of profit and
b. Widespread public exposure for the damage they
impose to human health and the environment! The horrendous
torture and cruelty to animals is obvious but nonetheless
important to not forget.]

Animal rights campaigns are moving on several fronts:

• The Humane Society says it expects 28 state legislatures
this year to consider strengthening
existing bans on dogfighting and cockfighting; 13 states
are considering bills regulating "puppy mills," mass
dog-breeding operations that keep puppies in small crates.

• Massachusetts activists are collecting signatures to get a
statewide initiative on the November ballot that would
ban commercial greyhound racing by
2010. The Committee to Protect Dogs says state records show that
since 2002, 728 greyhounds have been injured racing at the
state's two tracks.

• Over the past three years, 330 colleges have
stopped or dramatically reduced the use of
eggs from hens in cramped wire crates called battery
cages; retailers including Burger King, Hardee's, Carl's Jr. and
Ben & Jerry's now use eggs produced by cage-free hens, Markarian
says.

• More than 90 American Bar Association-approved law schools
now offer courses in animal law,
compared with only a handful 10 years ago. Favre compares the
growing interest in animal law among incoming law students to an
explosion of interest in environmental law in the 1970s.

Monastery under fire

When it comes to food production and animal rights activists,
even monks don't get a pass. After months of protests by PETA,
the monks at Mepkin Abbey, a Trappist monastery in Moncks
Corner, S.C., announced last month that they were giving up the
egg production business that had sustained them for nearly 50
years.

The monks were targeted because their chickens were kept in
battery cages, the nation's most common method of egg-farming
but a practice many animal rights advocates consider cruel.

Father Stan Gumula, abbot of Mepkin Abbey, said the monks
were reluctant to give up the egg business. "The pressure from
PETA has made it difficult for (the monks) to live their quiet
life of prayer, work and sacred reading," he said.

David Martosko, director of research for the Center for
Consumer Freedom, an organization supported by restaurants and
food companies, says most Americans oppose cruelty to animals.
But he says that activists who say animals shouldn't be eaten or
used for medical research or any other purpose won't find much
mainstream support.

"That is a position that very few Americans agree with," he
says.

Martosko also says abandoning some current agricultural
practices will drive up food prices. According to the American
Farm Bureau Federation, a dozen regular eggs cost $1.56 in
mid-2007, compared with $2.89 for cage-free eggs.

[Editor's note: The reality
is that Martosko's job is making sure the TRUTH behind the
horrific animal cruelty in these industries doesn't become
mainstream. That is one of the main primary goals behind the
innocuous-sounding, hypocritically named organization: Center
for Consumer Freedom. However, one thing Martosko is
correct about it the fact that most Americans do indeed oppose
cruelty.]

Pivotal events unfolded

Animal welfare organizations are riding a wave of popularity.
The Humane Society says it has 10.5 million members or
supporters, up from 7.4 million five years ago; during the same
period, PETA says its rolls have doubled to 1.8 million. The
groups attribute intensified public interest partly to three
recent events that highlighted the vulnerability of animals:

• New Orleans residents forced to leave pets to die in 2005
when they were evacuated during Hurricane Katrina.

• The recall last year of 60 million containers of pet food
after an unknown number of cats and dogs were poisoned, raising
questions about pet-food safety.

• The conviction last year of Atlanta Falcons quarterback
Michael Vick for dogfighting.

"Those were major events that made people realize we have so
much power over animals," says Markarian of the Humane Society.
"We can use that power to be cruel and indifferent, or to be
kind and careful stewards."

Johnson-Smith of the Animal Agriculture Alliance says current
farming practices have "a scientific basis" and "have been
supported by the animal science, research and veterinarian
communities."

Janet Riley, senior vice president of public affairs for the
American Meat Institute, whose members produce about 95% of the
beef, pork, lamb, veal and turkey consumed in the USA, says the
industry is diligent in handling animals humanely. But, she
adds, "people have different opinions about what constitutes
humane handling."

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